Roots of a Weed

"I would like to be a model in a science textbook."

Thus said the weed, just after I'd pulled it out of a planter pot, where it had been growing right against the inside surface of the earthenware container.

"Well, I don't really have access to any science textbooks," I replied.  "However, I can post your picture in my blog."

Though the weed didn't reply audibly, through body language, specifically its flat, diagrammatic appearance, it seemed to agree that this would be better than nothing.

In an attempt to do justice to this weed's aspirations to be the star of a science textbook, I did look up the following information:

** TWO HOURS LATER **     ahhhrrkgghk!   I can't find anything online that positively identifies the above weed.  So frustrating.  Ah well, I must give up for now, but I'll dream that perhaps this is a new weed and I'll receive the Nobel Peace Prize for discovering a new plant.

Hey! Where are you going?

It was their logo that first caught my eye and lured me into the Blind Lady Ale House on February 14, 2009, just two weeks after they'd opened.

The man was riding his bicycle into the ale house, and I simply followed him inside.

Later, however, I began to notice that the ads they were placing in CityBeat were irking me for some reason.

Where are you going, turn-of-the-century bicycle man?  You're riding away from the AleSmith Weekend!

Why did I feel so strongly about this?  Not sure.  I cannot recall exactly where I heard of this concept.  Certainly I didn't make it up.  Vaguely I remember reading somewhere that newspaper photographs are sometimes reversed, or "mirrored", to make the subject appear to be looking toward the center of the page rather than away.

So on June 28, 2009, I wrote a letter to the Blind Lady Ale House, specifically to co-owner Jeff Motch, the award-winning professional graphic designer who had created the logo.  Citing enclosed examples similar to the images above, I suggested that he design a new, complimentary logo, with the cyclist riding to the right, or toward the subject of any future advertisements.

There was no reply.  Which was kind of disappointing, though not unexpected.  Perhaps successful designer Motch thought "who the heck do you think you are?  Who is the professional graphic artist around here, anyway?"  Or then again, people good with art are often not so comfortable with words, so writing a letter in response might be quite a task.  Additionally, how many times do I respond to stuff I see online, much less by written word?  How often do I think "I'm gonna send them a ThankYou card", but then never do?  Often.

The main reason that I had no response, I figured, was that my idea was lacking in merit.  Does it really matter which way the guy is facing in the logo?  Evidently not.

Flash forward nine months to March 24, 2010.  Sitting in my PowerPoint 2007 class, the lesson asked me to include the following graphic on the left edge of my presentation:

"Next, to keep the viewer’s eye from traveling off the slide to the left, click the Rotate button and choose Flip Horizontal. "

Maybe my idea is not so crazy after all!

So right away, out of curiousity, I went to the Blind Lady Ale House BLAHG to look at one of their recent CityBeat ads.

 Cool!